ATLANTA , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend was executed Tuesday .

A Geogia official says executed killer William Earl Lynd did not make a final statement .

William Earl Lynd was the first inmate to die by injection since September , when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination represented cruel and unusual punishment .

The process began at 7:34 p.m. and ended 17 minutes later at 7:51 p.m. , said Paul Czachowski , public affairs manager for the Georgia Department of Corrections . `` The condemned declined to make a last statement or accept a prayer ; he remained quiet and calm throughout the whole procedure , '' he said .

Lynd , 53 , had requested as his last meal two pepper jack BBQ burgers with crisp onions , two baked potatoes with sour cream , bacon and cheese and a large strawberry milkshake -- all from a local restaurant .

The U.S. Supreme Court had refused to stay Lynd 's execution hours earlier Tuesday .

`` The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice -LSB- Clarence -RSB- Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied , '' the court said .

Georgia became the first state to resume executions since the court validated the lethal injection process last month with a ruling in a Kentucky case .

All but one of the 36 states with capital punishment use a three-drug mixture : an anesthetic , a muscle paralyzer and a heart-stopping substance . Death penalty opponents have argued that if inmates are not given enough anesthetic , they could be conscious enough to suffer excruciating pain without being able to express it because of the paralyzer .

The court 's decision in the Kentucky case prompted about a dozen states to announce they would resume executions . Watch a report on the decision ''

On Monday , Texas officials said they plan to execute Mexican-born Jose Medellin in August for the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago in Houston .

In Mississippi , authorities had planned to execute Earl Wesley Berry on Monday , but the state Supreme Court set the date for May 21 .

Berry was convicted of kidnapping a woman from a church parking lot in 1987 , beating her to death and dumping her body in a wooded area .

In the Georgia case , Lynd was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend , Virginia `` Ginger '' Moore , in Berrien County in 1988 .

During the trial , prosecutors painted Moore 's death as especially agonizing and lengthy .

According to trial testimony , Lynd shot Moore in the face , and she fell unconscious onto a bed . He then went outside to smoke a cigarette . Moore regained consciousness and staggered outside , where she was shot a second time and put into the trunk of her car .

After driving to a nearby farmhouse , Lynd said he heard Moore kicking inside the trunk , according to testimony . He opened the trunk and shot her a third time , this time fatally .

As the sentence was being carried out , about 20 opponents of the death penalty prayed and sang songs outside the prison , located 45 minutes south of Atlanta , said Laura Moye , chairwoman of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty .

`` We 're here to express our opposition to the state of Georgia taking human life on behalf of U.S. citizens of Georgia , '' she said . `` We are sad and upset that our state is leading the country in resumption of executions . We think this rush to executions is irresponsible in light of the many well-documented problems that have been revealed about the death penalty . ''

Human rights groups have also raised the possibility that an innocent person could be put to death . They pointed to Friday 's release in North Carolina of Levan `` Bo '' Jones , an African-American inmate who spent 14 years on death row before a judge said the evidence was faulty and overturned his murder conviction . The charges have been dropped .

Georgia prosecutors , however , maintain that the death penalty is carried out fairly in their state .

`` There 's been no evidence in this state -- and I 'm not aware of any in the country -- that any demonstrably innocent person has been put to death , '' said Tommy Floyd , chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys ' Council of Georgia .

`` No prosecutor I know wants to execute an innocent person . ''

There have been 40 executions in the state since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 , ruling in a Georgia case . Lynd was the 17th inmate executed by injection in the state .

In Virginia , a May 27 execution date has been set for death row inmate Kevin Green , and the state is proceeding on schedule , said David Clementson of the Virginia attorney general 's office . Four executions are set in Texas for June and July ; in Louisiana , former New Orleans police officer Antoinette Frank is set to die in July . If she is executed , she would be the first woman put to death in three years .

South Dakota , which has sent one inmate to death in three decades , has scheduled a lethal injection in October . Florida , Alabama , Arkansas , Illinois and Oklahoma have said they will resume capital punishment as soon as possible .

Nebraska is the only state that does not use lethal injection , but its use of the electric chair was ruled unconstitutional in February .

Texas and Mississippi are among the states that use 2 grams of sodium thiopental , the anesthetic used to render condemned inmates unconscious . Kentucky and other states use 3 grams , a standard that the Supreme Court judged to be constitutional .

CNN 's Bill Mears contributed to this report .

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NEW : Georgia executes inmate convicted of killing girlfriend in 1988

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William Earl Lynd pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m. , according to state official

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Lynd 's is first U.S. execution since Supreme Court upheld lethal injection

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About a dozen other states are planning executions